Esp motor oil quality monitoring gauge

ABSTRACT

An assembly for collecting data related to the condition of a lubricant inside of an electric motor including a gauge having an oil condition sensing probe extending into an interior of the electric motor so as to be immersed in the lubricant to determine at least one property of the lubricant and generate an electric signal in response thereto.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present document is based on and claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/513,817, filed Jun. 1, 2017, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Following discovery of a desired subterranean resource, e.g. oil,natural gas, or other desired subterranean resources, well drilling andproduction systems may be employed to access and extract the resource orresources. For example, a wellbore may be drilled into a hydrocarbonbearing reservoir and then a pumping system may be deployed downhole.The pumping system may be operated to pump oil and/or other fluids tothe surface for collection when the natural drive energy of thereservoir is not strong enough to lift the well fluids to the surface.The pumping system may comprise an electric submersible pumping systemhaving a submersible centrifugal pump powered by a separate submersibleelectric motor. However, monitoring certain pumping system relatedparameters can be difficult.

SUMMARY

In general, the present disclosure provides an assembly for collectingdata related to the condition of a lubricant inside of an electric motorincluding a gauge having an oil condition sensing probe extending intoan interior of the electric motor so as to be immersed in the lubricantto determine at least one property of the lubricant and generate anelectric signal in response thereto.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that arefurther described below in the detailed description. However, manymodifications are possible without materially departing from theteachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as definedin the claims. This summary is not intended to identify key or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used asan aid in limited the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Certain embodiments of the disclosure will hereafter be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numeralsdenote like elements. It is emphasized that, in accordance with standardpractice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. Infact, the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased orreduced for clarity of discussion. It should be understood, however,that the accompanying figures illustrate the various implementationsdescribed herein and are not meant to limit the scope of varioustechnologies described herein, and:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example ESP installation, according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example ESP system with base gauge andremote sensors, according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example base gauge, according to anembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example motor base interface showingplacement of oil condition sensing probe, according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth to providean understanding of some embodiments of the present disclosure. It is tobe understood that the following disclosure provides many differentembodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of variousembodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements aredescribed below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merelyexamples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, thedisclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the variousexamples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarityand does not in itself dictate a relationship between the variousembodiments and/or configurations discussed. However, it will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the system and/ormethodology may be practiced without these details and that numerousvariations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible.This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but rather mademerely for the purpose of describing general principles of theimplementations. The scope of the described implementations should beascertained with reference to the issued claims.

As used herein, the terms “connect”, “connection”, “connected”, “inconnection with”, and “connecting” are used to mean “in directconnection with” or “in connection with via one or more elements”; andthe term “set” is used to mean “one element” or “more than one element”.Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”, “coupled”, “coupled together”,and “coupled with” are used to mean “directly coupled together” or“coupled together via one or more elements”. As used herein, the terms“up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; “top” and “bottom”; and other liketerms indicating relative positions to a given point or element areutilized to more clearly describe some elements. Commonly, these termsrelate to a reference point at the surface from which drillingoperations are initiated as being the top point and the total depthbeing the lowest point, wherein the well (e.g., wellbore, borehole) isvertical, horizontal or slanted relative to the surface.

The disclosure herein generally involves a system and methodology formonitoring motor oil contamination levels in real-time.

Generally, the disclosure may include embodiments having a base gaugeconnected to a motor base of an ESP string. The base gauge, in additionto housing pressure, temperature, and vibration sensors, may house anoil condition-sensing probe that is periodically or continually incontact with the motor oil. The oil condition-sensing probe may usepredetermined dielectric properties of the motor oil to detect abnormalconditions on a periodic or continual basis. The sensor may be triggeredby water and/or wear metal debris. The sensor may relay this informationto onboard electronics of the base gauge. The base gauge electronics mayconsolidate measurements from various sensors, including the oilcondition sensor, and transmits them via communication link to thesurface using, e.g., digital current/voltage modulation. The oil qualitydata may be fed to a prognostic health monitoring (PHM) system thatmonitors the health of the ESP system to help determine the optimal timefor intervention or workover. In addition, this measurement may beuseful when troubleshooting ESP failures downhole.

FIG. 1 illustrates an electrical submersible pump (ESP) system 20deployed in a well 28. Submersible pumping system 20 may comprise avariety of components depending on the particular application orenvironment in which it is used. The illustrated pumping system 20includes a pump 22 coupled to an electric motor 24 and a motor protector26. Pump 22 may include two or more stages 100, e.g., compressionstages. The pump stages are characterized by the angle of flow passagesin the impellers. The stages may be radial flow, mixed flow, or axialflow. The net thrust load, e.g. downthrust load, resulting from rotationof the impellers may be resisted by a bearing 27 illustrated in FIG. 1in motor protector 26. For the purpose of clarity, arrow 10 indicatesthe direction of upthrust and an arrow 12 indicates the direction ofdownthrust.

In this embodiment, well 28 includes a wellbore 32 drilled into ageological formation 30 containing for example a desirable productionfluid 150, such as petroleum. Wellbore 32 may be lined with a tubularcasing 34. Perforations 36 are formed through wellbore casing 34 toenable flow of fluids between the surrounding formation 30 and thewellbore 32. Submersible pumping system 20 is deployed in wellbore 32 bya deployment system 38 that may have a variety of configurations. Forexample, deployment system 38 may comprise tubing 40, such as coiledtubing or production tubing, connected to submersible pump 22 by aconnector 42. Power may be provided to the submersible motor 24 via apower cable 44. The submersible motor 24, in turn, powers submersiblepump 22 which can be used to draw in production fluid 150 through a pumpintake 46. Within submersible pump 22, a plurality of impellers arerotated to pump or produce the production fluid 150 through, forexample, tubing 40 to a desired collection location which may be at asurface 48 of the Earth.

Referring generally to FIG. 2, an ESP installation 200, according to anembodiment of the disclosure, is shown. ESP installation 200 includes anESP string 270 including submersible pump 22, pump intake 46, motorprotector 26, electric motor 24, and base gauge 205. Electric motor 24is in electric communication with, and receives electric power from,surface drive 260 via power cable 44. ESP string 270 is outfitted withone or more sensors, e.g., 210-250. Sensor(s) 210-250 may includepressure, temperature, and/or vibration sensing capabilities. Base gauge205 may be located at the lower end of ESP string 270. Base gauge 205may be bolted via a flange connection to the base of electric motor 24.Base gauge 205 may receive power, and communicate with surfaceequipment, via a connection to the wye-point of motor 24.

Referring generally to FIG. 3, the assembly 300 of electric motor 24 andbase gauge 205, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, isillustrated. Base gauge 205 may be affixed to ESP motor base 305 by oneor more fastener(s) 320. Fastener(s) 320 may include screws, bolts,rivets or other suitable fasteners. Oil condition sensing probe 310extends upwardly from base gauge 205 into ESP motor base such that probe310 is immersed in, and in contact with, motor oil contained in electricmotor 24.

Referring generally to FIG. 4, a view 400 of the upper end of base gauge205, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, is shown. The basegauge 205 may include one or more holes 430 bored through flange 440 tofacilitate mounting of the base gauge to ESP motor base 305. Flange 440may be disposed about or proximate to the upper end of base gauge 205.The upper end of base gauge 205 may include one or more or all of oilcondition-sensing probe 310, thermocouple connector 410, and motorwye-point connection 420. Thermocouple connector 410 facilitatesmeasurement of temperature inside electric motor 24. Motor wye-pointconnection 420 facilitates the delivery of electrical power fromelectric motor 24 to base gauge 205. One or more sealing elements 450,e.g. O-rings, may be disposed on an exterior surface of the upper end ofbase gauge 205 to form a seal against an interior surface of ESP motorbase 305 when assembled thereto.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, voltage signals from the oilcondition-sensing probe 310 may be processed by an electronics packagecarried within the body of base gauge 205 and subsequently transmittedto surface acquisition systems via digital telemetry. In this example,the electronics package is in electric communication with the oilcondition sensing probe 310 such that the electric signal generated bythe oil condition sensing probe 310 is received by the electronicspackage. The electronics package may be used to process the electricsignal, e.g. voltage signal, and to transmit a processed signal to asurface acquisition system, e.g. surface drive 260 or other suitabledata processing system located at the surface. In some embodiments ofthe disclosure, the oil condition-sensing probe 310 may be placedremotely above electric motor 24 or motor protector 26 and connected tobase gauge 205 via metal armored mono conductors. By way of specificexample, remote sensor 210 or 220 may include an oil condition-sensingprobe.

Although a few embodiments of the disclosure have been described indetail above, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciatethat many modifications are possible without materially departing fromthe teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as definedin the claims. The scope of the invention should be determined only bythe language of the claims that follow. The term “comprising” within theclaims is intended to mean “including at least” such that the recitedlisting of elements in a claim are an open group. The terms “a,” “an”and other singular terms are intended to include the plural formsthereof unless specifically excluded. In the claims, means-plus-functionclauses are intended to cover the structures described herein asperforming the recited function and not only structural equivalents, butalso equivalent structures. It is the express intention of the applicantnot to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6 for any limitations of any ofthe claims herein, except for those in which the claim expressly usesthe words “means for” together with an associated function.

What is claimed is:
 1. An assembly for collecting data related to thecondition of a lubricant inside of an electric motor comprising: a gaugein proximity to the electric motor such that an oil condition sensingprobe extending from the gauge into an interior of the electric motor isimmersed in the lubricant inside the electric motor, the oil conditionsensing probe capable of determining at least one property of thelubricant and generating an electric signal in response thereto.
 2. Theassembly of claim 1 wherein the electric signal is a voltage signal. 3.The assembly of claim 1 wherein the gauge is mechanically affixed to theelectric motor.
 4. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising anelectric submersible pumping system, wherein the gauge is part of theelectric submersible pumping system.
 5. The assembly of claim 4 whereinthe gauge is a base gauge of the electric submersible pumping system. 6.The assembly of claim 4 wherein the electric submersible pumping systemcomprises a pump and a motor protector, the pump being powered by theelectric motor, the gauge being coupled with the electric motor.
 7. Theassembly of claim 1 wherein the electric submersible pumping systemcomprises a plurality of sensors in addition to the oil conditionsensing probe.
 8. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the plurality ofsensors comprises a pressure sensor.
 9. The assembly of claim 1 whereinthe plurality of sensors comprises a temperature sensor.
 10. Theassembly of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sensors comprises avibration sensor.
 11. A method, comprising: preparing a base gauge withan oil condition sensing probe; coupling the base gauge into a downholepumping system such that the oil condition sensing probe is in contactwith oil that flows within an electric motor of the downhole pumpingsystem; deploying the downhole pumping system, with the base gauge, downinto a wellbore; detecting a property of the oil that flows within theelectric motor with the oil condition sensing probe; and using the oilcondition sensing probe to generate an electric signal in response todetecting the property.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein using the oilcondition sensing probe to generate an electric signal comprisesgenerating a voltage signal.
 13. The method of claim 11 furthercomprising providing the electric signal to an electronics package. 14.The method of claim 13 further comprising placing the electronicspackage in the base gauge.
 15. The method of claim 13 further comprisingoperating the electronics package to process the electric signal and totransmit a processed signal to a surface acquisition system to enableevaluation of the property of the oil.
 16. The method of claim 11further comprising mechanically affixing the base gauge to the electricmotor.
 17. The method of claim 11 wherein coupling the base gauge intothe downhole pumping system comprises coupling the base gauge into anelectric submersible pumping system having a pump powered by theelectric motor and a motor protector.
 18. A system, comprising: anelectric submersible pumping system having: an electric motor; a pumppowered by the electric motor; a motor protector; a gauge in proximityto the electric motor to facilitate collection of data related to acondition of a lubricant inside the electric motor; and an oil conditionsensing probe extending from the gauge into an interior of the electricmotor, the oil condition sensing probe being immersed in the lubricantinside the electric motor, the oil condition sensing probe beingconfigured to detect at least one property of the lubricant and togenerate an electric signal in response thereto.
 19. The system of claim18 wherein the electric signal is a voltage signal.
 20. The system ofclaim 18 wherein the gauge is mechanically affixed to the electricmotor.